Phoebe Zhang writes that China’s new regulations, imposed on July 15, 2026, restrict AI companion services out of concern for users’ psychological well-being and dependency, prompting companies like ByteDance and Alibaba to disable their AI companion features. The piece notes that while some users mourned losing these relationships, the crackdown addresses symptoms like minors’ access and unhealthy reliance rather than the underlying emotional needs driving people to seek such connections in the first place.
